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Wednesday, July 3, 2013

As I stand in the shower; it looks unfamiliar to me; there is no longer a hanging basket filled with rubber duckies, boats, squirt bottles, or buckets... The basketball hoop that once hung at eye level, is no longer hanging. I throw open the curtain and reach for the towel that once hung on the towel hooks to my right, with each child's "bath" picture displayed above the hooks; there is no towel, there are no hooks. I look to my left and see the folded towel sitting on the seat of the toilet. There are no pictures displayed in the bathroom, there are no longer pictures on any walls in the house. I feel like a stranger in my own home; a strange feeling, one that comes with mixed emotions. I walk through an empty house until I reach the master bedroom, where the reminents of a late night lay scattered around the perimeter of the room; decisions about which clothes can get toted and which need to stay, are stacked in piles. Oh the joys of moving... Moving is such a whirlwind with three young children; the boys are adjusting magnificently, they did such a great job helping pack up their toys, each could have one backpack that holds their nearest and dearest toys. Mommy packed Adalyn's backpack of toys, she isn't that impressed with what I picked for her, she is having a difficult time adjusting to an empty house, no couches and only a tv in the basement, her only saving grace is Lumpy. That darn Heffalump can plaster a smile right back on her once always smiling face and she sings and dances and sits on the floor and soaks up every second of lumpy that she can; and as a desperate Mommy for my smiling always happy little girl back, I let her watch Lumpy over and over again; sometimes I even sit next to her and enjoy the show that she puts on while watching her favorite friend from the 100 acre woods! We all have our own emotions and feelings with this upcoming move, 10 days can not go by fast enough! Ben is ready for it to be done; he lucks out though, because he leaves on Sunday to DC and gets to worry far less about getting house cleaned and closing then I do; when he returns on Friday evening most of the things will be moved into our new garage. The kids and I will be swimming at the Holiday Inn (we are staying there Friday night, because although we close on Friday we don't get full possession of our new home until Saturday morning). He gets the easy part! The boys are SO very excited to have a park in their "front" yard; they are already plotting how they are going to make sure to always watch for cars and be very careful crossing the road! They have not been to the house, they have only driven past it and I think they were focused on the park more than the house, I am sure that they will be so impressed with the huge yard and all the trees they can climb, helping Mom garden and pick weeds (we have a lot of flowers and plants to keep up). They have picked out their room themes for their very own bedrooms, that are on the same floor as Mommy & Daddy, and Adalyn; Porter wants a construction room, Braylon wants either a fishing room with boats or an airplane room, he is still working on the details. Adalyn will be excited once we are moved in and things are put away and she realises that this is now her home. She is a girl of a different mind set; our boys were always so flexible, schedules didn't mean anything to them and change never bothered them, Adalyn is not that way, she is most comfortable at home, with her own toys and her own surroundings. Adjustment will be difficult; especially with us staying at Grandma Pammy's and Papa Todd's most of next week, with three dogs in a house, three kids, and 4 adults it will be a big adjustment for our little princess. Reesey, Ressey, Reesey... Oh our 4 legged friend, will not know what do all of the land he will have to run, he will be on high alert I suspect for the better part of a week; but once he feels at home, I am sure I will find him sleeping in the three season porch most days allowing the sun to warm him from the outside in. Like I stated earlier in this growing post, for me it is a bittersweet moment, mixed with different emotions. I have never been a huge fan of our current house, never thought it felt overly homey, never felt like I was "home". However seeing it now, without any of the pictures on the walls, no decorations around the house, no toys scattered from room to room; I miss the way it looked before. It is the house that I learned how to be a Mommy! I walked all three of our kids through that back door as newborns. I watched in amazement as Reese figured out they were not leaving, and he learned to love them like they were his own. I listed to first words, watched first moments of sitting up, crawling, and those precious first steps under that very roof. I learned to love someone so much that it made my heart ache; so much that I tear up thinking up our children and the love that I hold for them. I learned how to become a wife in that house; although Ben and I have only been married for a short while, I was a wife to him long before we were actually married! Ben and I have been through a lot in that house, but I have watched my love for him grow, change and develop every single day in that house. We went through our first major renovation in that house and we both lived to talk about it! Although it makes me sad leave the house I have built so many memories in, it also makes me so excited to think of all of the memories we will make in our new home! Our old house was used to raise newborns into toddlers even two pre-schoolers, our new house will be to grow toddlers and pre-schoolers into young adults! I am over the moon to watch the people they become, to watch as they walk down the stairs dressed up for their first day of school, and as they walk down those same stairs dressed in their cap and gown and leave to become a high school graduate. I will welcome the day that Ben and I are sitting on our maintenance free deck (I am so excited not to have to paint three decks any longer); enjoying a drink and conversation as empty nester's... I look forward so very much to the Jensen's moving!

May these next 10 days fly by and may you have a safe and happy 4th of July Holiday! I will be finishing packing as my husband and two boys are enjoying fishing/jet skiing/ and fireworks!